Manga Review: Fate/ Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya

Title: Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya
Author: Hiroyama Hiroshi
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished/ Sequel
Genre: Mahou Shoujo, Fantasy
Art: A
Originality: A
Story: A
Characters: S
Humor: S
Action: A

Impression: This is a spin-off of Type-Moon’s ever popular Fate/Stay Night franchise where Illya takes centre stage. In this alternate reality of the original game, Illya lives as a normal girl in Japan with her family including Shirou and her two maids. One day, Rin and Luvia fly into Japan to fix the distortions caused by the Servants as ordered by their master and because of Luvia and Rin’s constant bickering, Rin’s sentient magical staff abandons her and chooses Illya as its new master forcing her to become Rin’s new slave. This is obviously fanservice for Illya fans but it also happens to be a solid and very enjoyable manga even without its roots. The author has talent for both the serious and also the lighter moments in the manga and really knows how to bring the characters to life. The battle scenes can be described as intense and epic but they lack the “finishing move” feeling that most shonen mangas excel at when the battles end. My only problem with it is the lack of explanations for some of changes in the manga like why Shirou still gets adopted by Kiritsugu, why Illya is living in Japan and why they aren’t living at Emiya estate like in the original story even though both parents are alive and well. It seems that those will be addressed in the sequel which has 4 chapters out so far and is just as good as its prequel.

Manga Review: Oto x Maho

Title: Oto x Maho
Author: Shirase Shuu,Suemitsu Jikka
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Shonen, Mahou Shoujo, Gender Bender
Art: B
Originality: S
Story: B
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: Another manga with a twist. It’s about androgynous young boy who has to succeed his mother’s work as magical girl and this is based on a series of light novels that seem to be gaining popularity in Japan. Basically a trap character is being forced to work as Magical Girl or else he’ll no longer be a trap as per the contract his mother forced him to sign. I like this story for its concept and the unique characters in it but the story itself isn’t particularly outstanding which makes me wonder if that’s because the mangaka lacks the ability to express the source material properly or if novels themselves were only interesting ideas used in uninspired ways. From what I can guess, the manga is still probably in its first or second novel out of the nine already compiled. I’m thinking that if the project had been handed to a more fun and wild author, it would have been a much more enjoyable read.